What is your role?

I am a Senior Advisor and Peace Engineer for Build Up, a peacetech initiative that focuses on pioneering ways to bring technology into peacebuilding to broaden societal participation and amplify the impact of effective innovations.

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Why you care about this prize, and what you hope this prize can achieve?

As a peace engineer, I appreciate those who are using their technical skills, in relationship to the broader community, to elevate peace and social justice. I think it is time to recognize and celebrate the engineers that get out of their offices and engage with the communities to be part of a broader community solution.

 

Who is your role model?

My role model is Abdirahman Raghe, an amazing Somali peacebuilder who taught me what peace looks like in the face of conflict and the role I could play as an engineer in supporting peace in Somalia...provided I was willing to accept it as not my peace and not my solution.

 

What is inspiring you right now?

I am inspired by the engineers I am discovering in post-conflict countries around the world, who have a passion for peace and a commitment to community, and how that exposure has helped me to see the very same happening in my own country.